Explicit SEL instruction refers to consistent opportunities for students to cultivate, practice, and reflect on social and emotional competencies in ways that are developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive. These opportunities provide dedicated time to focus on social and emotional competencies (Mahoney et al., 2020).
If you have already begun providing explicit SEL instruction, use the rubric or the questions below to identify areas for continuous improvement:
Do all students have dedicated time during the school day to learn about, reflect on, and discuss SEL competencies through developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive instruction?
Is SEL instruction provided by teachers to enable them to reinforce SEL learning across the day?
Does SEL instruction have a sequence with connected and coordinated activities; use active forms of learning; focus on developing social and emotional skills; and explicitly target specific SEL goals?
Is SEL instruction connected to other opportunities for practicing and reflecting on SEL competencies throughout the day?
Explicit SEL instruction often takes the shape of a lesson that focuses primarily on building a social and emotional skill in an age-appropriate way. It can also occur through classroom activities that develop specific skills (Durlak et al., 2011); routines and structures such as morning check-ins, circle discussions, or conflict resolution practices; or teacher practices such as authentic feedback on SEL competencies (Dusenbery et al., 2015). The most effective SEL instruction both builds students’ understanding and provides opportunities for practicing skills during the lesson and throughout the school day. Parents and community members can also be invited to participate in lessons and support learning by helping students make connections outside school (Dusenbery et al., 2015).
Durlak et al. (2011) describe four essential elements of effective SEL instruction, using the acronym SAFE:
Meta analysis shows that SEL practices that meet all SAFE criteria are more effective in strengthening social and emotional skills and prosocial behavior (Cipriano et al., 2023; Durlak, 2023).
Developmentally Appropriate Explicit SEL Instruction
The CASEL framework names five core SEL competencies that are applicable across developmental levels, from early childhood through adulthood. But developmentally appropriate instruction looks different across stages. For example:
These questions are aligned with the five core competencies of SEL and progress in complexity to support reflection and application of new skills at a range of developmental levels.
Here are some important considerations for structuring explicit SEL instruction at your school:
Give Teachers the Responsibility to Teach SEL: SEL instruction delivered by teachers has a more significant impact than programs delivered by non-school personnel (Cipriano et al., 2023). Teacher-led SEL instruction helps teachers form strong relationships with their students and integrate concepts throughout all instruction so students can practice and apply SEL in new contexts throughout the day. By taking ownership of teaching SEL, teachers also enhance their own SEL. Counselors and other support staff are great sources of knowledge on SEL and may support teachers by co-facilitating, coaching, or leading professional learning on SEL instruction.
Allocate Time for SEL Instruction in the Master Schedule: Explicit SEL instruction may occur during a dedicated class period, such as advisory, or as part of regularly set-aside time during another class, such as the first 30 minutes of Monday homeroom.
While there are also important opportunities to speak about, reflect on, and practice SEL explicitly within academic lessons, CASEL recommends combining dedicated and integrated instruction. Designating time in the master schedule shows administrative support for SEL and makes it easier for teachers to prioritize it. Schools have found many ways to schedule SEL instruction, such as:
When making decisions about how and when to allocate time for SEL, ask for input from teachers and out-of-school time staff to ensure that the final decision will be helpful and well-received. Take a vote at a staff meeting, send out a survey, or use a discussion protocol to make a decision.
Align Scope and Sequence Across Classrooms: If all teachers progress through SEL topics at the same pace, they can more easily collaborate on plans and support one another through challenges. This approach also makes it easier for administrators or an SEL coach to provide support to individual teachers and plan aligned all-school events and practices (such as assemblies, student recognition ceremonies, or morning announcements). Similarly, in some schools teachers and out-of-school time staff coordinate lessons and activities so that afterschool experiences reinforce school day learning and vice versa.
Your SEL efforts are more likely to succeed if you consistently make space to discuss SEL implementation. Grade-level team meetings are an excellent time to support reflection, inquiry, and collaboration among teachers.
This tool includes prompts for teacher teams to discuss strategies for building a supportive classroom environment, integrating SEL into instruction, providing explicit SEL instruction, and taking a student-centered approach to discipline.
When teachers are teaching the same SEL topic or lesson, they can use a discussion protocol like this to collaborate and address challenges that come up.
Look to State SEL Standards to Organize Your Scope and Sequence
Most SEL programs and curricula that you may be using will come with clear guidance about the order and pace of SEL skills instruction throughout the year. Studies show that programs that teach intrapersonal skills first (related to self-awareness, self-management) followed by interpersonal skills (related to social awareness, relationships) result in stronger student outcomes (Cipriano et al., 2023).
If you need a model for your scope and sequence, find out if your state or district has published SEL standards or guidelines that you can use. Often these standards are structured to show how an SEL competency (e.g., relationship skills) should be taught with increasing complexity across grade bands and may also offer suggestions about ordering topics across a single school year. You can look up your own state’s standards or search for other strong models using CASEL’s state scan map (last updated in 2022).
Adopting an existing evidence-based SEL program presents many benefits. When you choose an evidence-based program, you ensure that it shows positive effects for students in a well-designed study.
An evidence-based program can also help ensure a developmentally appropriate sequence to lessons, offer sufficient training to meet your school’s needs, and include tools and resources to support implementation and measure impact. CASEL provides the SEL Program Guide to help educators define their unique criteria for selecting an evidence-based program that will be the right fit.
This tool includes questions you can use on a listening tour with staff, students, and families as you shape your selection criteria and compare potential programs.
A “right fit” SEL program will reflect the hopes and needs of your school community and support your school and/or district’s priorities, whether you are focused on improving climate and culture, increasing academic performance, providing opportunities for student leadership, or any of a number of commitments. Create an inclusive program selection committee and seek out members who tend to be left out of decision-making (e.g., students and families from underrepresented minority groups or those with special needs). To gather general input from an even broader group of stakeholders, your team may wish to conduct listening tours or send out a survey.
Once you know what matters to stakeholders in your school, use CASEL’s Program Guide to find programs that are a strong match, and consider and compare program approaches, significant evaluation outcomes, student characteristics, training and implementation support, and other programmatic components. Each of these components can be matched to your school’s needs and play a role in successful implementation.
Programmatic components to consider:
Once you have adopted a program, keep collaborating for continuous improvement. Use the implementation support tools included with many evidence-based programs, or CASEL tools like the Rapid Learning Cycle Protocol, to gather data, collaboratively problem-solve, and adjust implementation support along the way.